Ozone Swift - Great All-Round Wing

by Kevin Ault
(Chilliwack, BC, Canada)

I received my Ozone Swift (M) in early October and had a two hour soaring flight at Mt. Woodside, BC using my Supair Vamp harness with my total hook in weight of 103 kg. This was only my third flight on the wing but within a few minutes, I was up with the most experienced pilots on higher performance wings and keeping up easily.

The Swift launched easily. I've run it off another site in a 6 km/hr tail wind. It comes up with a very light feel but once loaded has nice progressive brake pressure with excellent feedback.

The big improvement for me from my last 1/2 is the handling. The Ozone Swift is an agile wing, which turns nice and flat, easily penetrating into the thermal and allowing the pilot to wind it up quickly once in the core.

The trim speed is a little slower than I expected but the sink rate must be very good because the glide is very impressive. The speed bar easily brings the speed up to 45 km/hr+. The Ozone Swift is also extremely stable. I recently flew from an alpine site into big sink and then flew through a sheer layer. I flew without brake input and the glider oscillated and pendulumed all over the place but didn't have one tuck.

My fourth flight was from a hike and fly site with alpine gear, no reserve. This was where the glider shone, first for its light weight and ability to pack small. Previously I couldn't get my Ozone Oxygen harness to turn well but with the Swift, I got excellent handling and ended up getting 600 meters over and flying 19 km down range, my best flight ever in this valley.

I am taking this wing to Argentina in December and will have it in my pack on a climb of Mt. Aconcagua. If the weather cooperates, the Ozone Swift will be the perfect wing from which to fly from the summit.